By Rev. Richard Jones

rec 07-26-20

WHIP AT THE TEMPLE

John 2: 13-17

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. ¹⁵ And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

DEDICATION   John 2: 13

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 

Psalm 73: 16-17

But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,
¹⁷ until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.

Hebrews 10: 24-25

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

EXPLOITATION   John 2: 14

In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.

INFLAMMATION   John 2: 15-16

 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”

Mark 11: 17

And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ”˜My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”™? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

MANIFESTATION   John 2: 17

His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Malachi 3: 1-2

 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. ² But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.

By Rev. Richard Jones

rec 07-19-20

CALLED DURING CRISIS

Isaiah 6: 1-13

THE CALL OF ISAIAH   Isaiah 6: 1

 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 

THE CONDITION OF ISAIAH   Isaiah 6: 2-5

Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” ⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. ⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

THE CLEANSING OF ISAIAH   Isaiah 6: 6-7

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

THE COMMISSION OF ISAIAH   Isaiah 6: 8-10

 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” ⁹ And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “”˜Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.”™¹⁰ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Isaiah 55: 6-11

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;
⁷ let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. ⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your way sand my thoughts than your thoughts. ¹⁰ “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, ¹¹ so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Ezekiel 33: 10-11

 “And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ”˜Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?”™ ¹¹ Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

THE CONCERN OF ISAIAH   Isaiah 6: 11-12

Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant,
and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, ¹² and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

THE CERTAINTY OF ISAIAH   Isaiah 6: 13

And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.

(The application is that God has called us also, during a time of national crises, to share His message with our generation.)

By Rev. Richard Jones

rec 07-12-20

BELOVED BROTHER BARNABAS

Selections from Acts

BARNABAS WAS”¦

A GENEROUS GIVER   Acts 4: 32-37

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. ³³ And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. ³⁴ There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold ³⁵ and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. ³⁶ Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, ³⁷ sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

A SINNER’S FRIEND   Acts 9: 26-28

 And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. ²⁷ But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. ²⁸ So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.

A CARING PASTOR   Acts 11: 19-26

 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. ²⁰ But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. ²¹ And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. ²² The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³ When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, ²⁴ for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. ²⁵ So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, ²⁶ and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

A WORLD MISSIONARY   Acts 13: 1-5

 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. ² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. ⁴ So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. ⁵ When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them.

A SILENT SUPPORTER   Acts 13: 6-13

When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. ⁷ He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. ⁸ But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. ⁹ But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him ¹⁰ and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? ¹¹ And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. ¹² Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. ¹³ Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem,

A MISUNDERSTOOD APOSTLE   Acts 14: 8-18

 Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. ⁹ He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well,^[a] 10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. ¹¹ And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” ¹² Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. ¹³ And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. ¹⁴ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, ¹⁵ “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. ¹⁶ In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. ¹⁷ Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” ¹⁸ Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.

A DOCTRINE DEFENDER   Acts 14: 27-15:3

And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸ And they remained no little time with the disciples. 15 But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” ² And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. ³ So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.

A PEOPLE BELIEVER   Acts 15: 36-41

And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” ³⁷ Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. ³⁸ But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. ³⁹ And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, ⁴⁰ but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹ And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

2 Timothy 4: 9-11

Do your best to come to me soon. ¹⁰ For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. ¹¹ Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.

By Rev. Richard Jones

rec 07-05-20

WHEN MY COUNTRY FALLS APART

Habakkuk Chapters 1-3

THE CONTEXT   Jeremiah 22: 13-19

“Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice,
who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages,¹⁴ who says, ”˜I will build myself a great house with spacious upper rooms,”™who cuts out windows for it,
paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion.¹⁵ Do you think you are a king because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.¹⁶ He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the Lord.¹⁷ But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence.”¹⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:“They shall not lament for him, saying, ”˜Ah, my brother!”™ or ”˜Ah, sister!”™ They shall not lament for him, saying, ”˜Ah, lord!”™ or ”˜Ah, his majesty!”™¹⁹ With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried, dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”

2 Chronicles 36: 14-16

All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. ¹⁶ But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

THE COMPLAINT   Habakkuk 1: 2-4  

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?³ Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.⁴ So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.

THE COUNSEL   Habakkuk 1: 5-11

“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.⁶ For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.⁷ They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
⁸ Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour.⁹ They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand.¹⁰ At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it.
¹¹ Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!”

THE CONFUSION   Habakkuk 1: 12-13

Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die.
O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.¹³ You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you  idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?

THE CONVERSATION   Habakkuk 2: 1-4  

I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. ² And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.³ For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end””it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.⁴ “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.

THE CONSEQUENCE   Habakkuk 2: 8-14

Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,
for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.⁹ “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm!
¹⁰ You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life.¹¹ For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond. ¹² “Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity!¹³ Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing?¹⁴ For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

THE CONFIDENCE   Habakkuk 3: 16-19  

I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.¹⁹ God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

• Stand for God’s truth…

• Seek God’s mercy…2 Chronicles 7:14

 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

• Submit to God’s Sovereignty…Romans 11: 33-36

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

By Rev. Richard Jones

rec 06-28-20

YOU MARRIED A WHAT?

Hosea -Chapters 1-3

BROKEN COVENANT   Hosea 1: 2-3

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” ³ So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

BYWORD CHILDREN    Hosea 1: 4-9

And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. ⁵ And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

⁶ She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. ⁷ But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”

⁸ When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. ⁹ And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

BRIGHT FUTURE   Hosea 1: 10-11

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” ¹¹ And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

BURNING JUDGMENT   Hosea 2: 2-8

“Plead with your mother, plead””for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband””
that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts;
³ lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born and make her like a wilderness,
 and make her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst. ⁴ Upon her children also I will have no mercy, because they are children of whoredom.⁵ For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ”˜I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.”™⁶ Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths.⁷ She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them.
Then she shall say, ”˜I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.”™ ⁸ And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.

BETROTHED LOVE   Hosea 2: 16-23

“And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ”˜My Husband,”™ and no longer will you call me ”˜My Baal.”™ ¹⁷ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. ¹⁸ And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. ¹⁹ And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. ²⁰ I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.²¹ “And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, ²² and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, ²³ and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ”˜You are my people”™; and he shall say, ”˜You are my God.”™”

BUYING THE UNWORTHY   Hosea 3: 1-5  

And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” ² So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. ³ And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” ⁴ For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. ⁵ Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.

1 Peter 1: 18-19

knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

BRIDE OF CHRIST   Ephesians 2: 1-10  

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience”” ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ””by grace you have been saved”” ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.